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A pile of roasted orange carrots with a pale, creamy green sauce underneath and cheese with cilantro and pistachios sprinkled throughout.
Roasted carrots with feta, pistachios, honey harissa, yogurt raita, and apple cider gastrique.

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Inside Smith & Co., a Bright American Restaurant and Beer Hall Opening in Midtown

The renovated Smith Welding Supply Co. building reopens tonight as a funky restaurant and bar

by Brenna Houck
Photography by Michelle Gerard

A new beer hall and New American restaurant is preparing to open its doors inside Cass Corridor this weekend. Smith & Co., located in the 102-year-old Smith Welding Supply & Equipment Company building will open its doors at 4 p.m. on Friday, September 20 on Selden Street.

Smith & Co. is the latest project from partners Jon Carlson, Chet Czaplicka, and Greg Lobdell. All three have experience opening restaurants including through Mission Restaurant Group and are part-owners in Northern United Brewing Company. The restaurant is part of a larger redevelopment of the Selden Street Corridor, which includes an outpost of arcade bar chain Barcade. Also on tap is Nain Rouge Brewery, a taproom and brewhouse whose beers will also be showcased at the Smith & Co.’s bar.

The 7,000-square-foot restaurant was designed by international architecture firm VolumeOne Design Studio. Smith & Co. seats 160 people and features a bright and spacious interior with windows overlooking a shared courtyard, brown leather banquette seating, natural wood tables, and an original ceramic tile floor at the entrance. Customers at Smith & Co. can choose from several sections including a lounge area near the entrance with a limited menu and drinks or the dining room with full menu.

A neon green and white sign for Smith Welding Supply Co. has air canisters on it.
The Smith Welding Supply Co. sign was previously on the front of a neighboring building but was moved and restored for Smith & Co.

Smith & Co.’s owners selected general manager David Mammel and chef Greg Antioho to take the lead at the restaurant. Antioho came to Detroit from Ann Arbor where he was the executive chef at another Mission Restaurant Group establishment, Blue Tractor BBQ & Brewery. During a media preview on Thursday, Antioho told Eater that his goal at Smith & Co. is to focus on highlighting Michigan ingredients with dishes that pair well with beers from sibling beer maker Nain Rouge Brewery.

Look out for options like fried chicken sandwiches with gochujang aioli and Brinery kimchi, wagyu burgers with sunny side up eggs, achiote marinated carne asada bowls, and roasted carrots with Michigan feta, pistachios, and honey harissa among the offerings. For dessert, customers can choose from items like banana bread pudding and coffee pot de creme donuts. Smith & Company is particularly paying attention to dietary concerns by offering separate gluten-free and vegetarian/vegan menus.

Comfy brown leather chairs surrounded by wooden stumps in place of tables.
A brown leather booth with stump tables and a green cinderblock wall painted with a mural spelling “Detroit.”
Green antique doors hang in a lounge area at Smith & Co with white, green, and black chairs, a two black coffee tables, and a wooden pew.

(Top left) The lounge area at Smith & Co. has a limited menu. (Top right) The entryway to Smith & Co. (Bottom) Another view of the lounge.

At the bar customers can find several bottled and mixed cocktails as well as a tapped old fashioned. Northern United Brewing Company’s associated breweries Jolly Pumpkin and North Peak are featured prominently on the beer list alongside breweries like Stillwater, Perrin, and Evil Twin.

Despite being a few months out from opening Nain Rouge, brewer and North Peak Brewing alum David Hale has been hard at work at Northern United’s Dexter facility preparing small batches of Nain Rouge beer for Smith & Co. Hale plans to initially offer three Nain Rouge beers — Detroit hibiscus wheat, Confus guava IPA, and 644 Amber — at Smith & Co. He’ll add a fourth session IPA in the coming weeks. Eventually, Nain Rouge will offer between eight and 12 beers at Smith & Co., in addition to serving and selling cans at its own taproom.

Take a tour of the new restaurant and scope out some of the food and drinks ahead of tonight’s opening in the gallery below.

A wooden sign for Smith & Co. hangs above beer tap handles made from metal pipes and in front of a dark-colored brick wall.
The bar features beers Michigan beers including several from forthcoming Nain Rouge Brewery.

A very thick burger with melted cheese, caramelized onions an egg, and lettuce on a black plate with an amber colored beer in a glass behind it.
A reddish colored beer in a smaller glass stands next to a cloudy, amber colored beer in a taller glass.
A yellow cocktail with a citrus peel garnish stands next to a pink-colored cocktail with a mint sprig garnish.

(Top) The Smith burger. (Bottom left) The Detroit hibiscus wheat and the Confus guava IPA are both collaborations between Nain Rouge Brewery and Northern United Brewing Company. (Bottom right) The Penicilina cocktail on the left features tequila, ginger, lemon, honey, and mezcal. The Prom Night Punch on the right is a bottled cocktail with vodka, blackberry, lemon, and mint.

Sun streams over tables with leather banquette seats.
The lounge area at Smith & Co.
A large spear-shaped wooden table surrounded by leather banquettes and light and dark green subway tiled walls.
One of Smith & Co.’s larger tables is located near the kitchen at the back of the restaurant.

Smith & Co. is located at 644 Selden St.; open 4 p.m. to 11 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 4 p.m. to midnight Friday, 11 a.m. to midnight on Saturday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Sunday. website.

• A New American Restaurant With a Microbrewery Is Arriving in Cass Corridor This Fall [ED]
• ‘Up North’-Themed Restaurant and Barcade Drop Anchor on Selden Street [ED]
• All Smith & Co. Coverage [ED]
• All Eater Inside Coverage [ED]
• All Openings Coverage [ED]

Barcade

5684 York Boulevard, , CA 90042 (323) 274-4798 Visit Website

Smith & Co.

644 Selden St., Detroit, MI Visit Website
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